Electrical connectors comprise opposed mateable male and female electrical connector halves, each of which comprises a nonconductive or dielectric housing and at least one electrical terminal securely mounted therein. Electrical conductors or wire leads are joined to the terminals mounted in the housings, and may further be mechanically joined to the housing itself to achieve a strain relief connection. The nonconductive housing of at least one half of the electrical connector typically may be mounted to a panel. Many connectors such as drawer connectors, include a pair of panel mounted connector halves which are mateable with one another by movement of at least one of the panels toward the other.
The nonconductive housings typically are molded from a suitable plastic material, and preferably define a unitary molded plastic structure. The opposed mateable connector housings typically include appropriate guide structures for guiding the two mateable connector halves into a mated electrical connection. To facilitate this initial mechanical alignment of the connector housings, at least one connector half, and typically the male connector half, is provided with a floating mount to the panel.
Many types of mounting members have been provided to achieve a float mounting for electrical connectors. One such float mounting assembly of fairly complex construction is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,647,130 which issued to Blair et al on Mar. 3, 1987. The drawer connector shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,647,130 comprises an enlarged flange aperture having an elliptical elastomeric insert therein. A screw with a diameter smaller than that of the aperture in the connector is employed to mount the connector to a panel. Thus, float in the direction of the major axis of the elliptical insert can be achieved. The float connector shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,647,130 is considered undesirable in that it includes a plurality of separate components which must be assembled, and because the float is limited to movement parallel to the long axis of the elliptical insert. The connector shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,647,130 can be removed from the panel only by disassembling the plural parts required for the float mount assembly.
Some prior art connectors have recognized the desirable objective of molding both the connector housing and the mounting means as a unitary plastic structure. Connectors of this type have included a generally planar mounting flange intended to be mounted in face-to-face contact with a panel. A mounting peg extends generally orthogonally from the mounting flange of the connector housing and is unitary therewith. The mounting pegs of these prior art connectors have been defined by two generally symmetrical spaced apart halves with the plane of symmetry extending generally orthogonal to the mounting flange of the connector, such that the respective halves of the mounting peg are slightly spaced from one another. With this construction, the peg halves of the prior art connector are cantilevered and can deflect slightly toward one another. The end of the prior art mounting peg remote from the mounting flange is enlarged and defines a cross-sectional dimension slightly greater than a corresponding aperture in the panel. This enlarged end of the prior art mounting peg has been appropriately tapered or ramped, such that movement of the prior art mounting peg toward the aperture in the panel deflects the peg halves toward one another to permit the enlarged head to pass through the aperture in the panel. After sufficient insertion of the prior art mounting peg into the aperture, the enlarged head passes the opposed side of the panel, and the biased peg halves return to their initial position, with the enlarged head holding the connector to the panel.
Prior art mounting pegs as described above have been effective for holding the connector to the panel. However, the construction of these prior art mounting pegs generally has required a substantial amount of force to mount the connector to the panel, and a corresponding or greater difficulty in removing a connector from a panel. The substantial forces required to mount the prior art mounting peg connector to a panel creates the potential for damage to either the connector or the panel, while a similar probability of damage exists during removal of the connector from the panel. Thus, the prior art mounting peg systems have been designed and used primarily to achieve a secure and substantially permanent mounting of the connector to the panel. Prior art mounting pegs of this type generally cannot be provided with a large enough latching shoulder diameter and a sufficient inward compression of the mounting peg halves toward one another to provide the amount of float required for many connectors, such as drawer connectors. In short, mounting pegs, as described above, are provided to hold connectors securely and substantially permanently, and not to achieve float. The prior art mounting members intended to achieve a significant amount of float, have typically been more complex structures, such as those in U.S. Pat. No. 4,647,130.
In view of the above, it is an object of the subject invention to provide a floating panel mount structure that can be molded unitarily with an electrical connector housing.
It is another object of the subject invention to provide an integrally molded floating panel mount that can easily be mounted to or removed from a panel.
An additional object of the subject invention is to provide a panel mount construction that can achieve a large amount of rotational float in all directions within the plane of the panel.
Still a further object of the subject invention is to provide an integrally molded floating panel mount having a pair of multiple cantilevered latch structures for both holding the connector to a panel and permitting relative float therebetween.